Table clock with a plastic case, and an inscription that reads “The Lux Clock Mfrg Co. Waterbury Conn.” This firm was established in 1914 by Paul Lux (1870-1947), a German clockmaker who emigrated to the United States in 1887.
Ref: “Paul Lux, Founder of Clock Firm, Dies,” New York Times (Jan. 26, 1947), p. 53.
Bracket clock, Dutch, last quarter of the 17th century
Johannes Van Ceulen made this clock in The Hague, Holland, in collaboration with Christiaan Huygens. Huygens (1629-1693) patented the design for the first practical pendulum clock in 1657.
In common with other so-called “Hague clocks,” which were made in several Dutch cities and by other clockmakers in Huygens’ time, this Van Ceulen clock has a single spring that drives both time and strike trains, a pendulum suspended between curved “cycloidal cheeks” (designed to correct the oscillation period of the pendulum for variations in its swing’s amplitude) and an ebonized fruitwood case reminiscent of classical architecture. The pediment of the case, with its gilt floral pattern, serves not only a decorative function, but also conceals the clock’s externally mounted bell. Also typical are the velvet-covered brass dial plate and the prominent figure of Chronos, or Father Time. The figure supports the chapter ring and rests on two signature plaques inscribed “Johannes Van/Ceulen Haghe.” The backplate is also marked “Johannes Van Ceulen/Fecit Haghe.” This clock has a two-day movement, verge and crown wheel escapement with crutch, silk thread suspension for the pendulum and count wheel striking. The alarm work is missing.
References:
1. Mahoney, Michael S. “Christian Huygens: The Measurement of Time and of Longitude at Sea,” in Studies on Christiaan Huygens, Edited by H.J.M. Bos et al. (Lisse: Swets, 1980), 234-270.
2. Plomp, R. Spring-Driven Dutch Pendulum Clocks, 1657-1710. Schiedam: Interbook International B.V., 1979.
This small clock from the early 1850s is unsigned, but its movement is likely from a Connecticut clock factory and its case is likely a product of the Litchfield Manufacturing Co., Litchfield, Conn. The Litchfield firm was America’s first paper-mâché factory, founded by English immigrants in 1851 and eventually employing about 50 men and women. The firm used a patented British process for mother-of-pearl inlay to decorate an array of goods in addition to clock cases, including tables, card cases, fire screens, boxes, vases and ornamental hinges and clasps. The Litchfield firm failed after a merger in the mid-1850s that bankrupted its major supporter, showman P.T. Barnum.
This clock’s base is made of wood, the body is made of black papier-mâché, with mother-of-pearl inlay and painted images on front and gilt edge paint. The white enamel dial features Roman numerals. The brass movement has steel mainsprings, and the entire clock is covered with glass dome.
References:
DeVoe, Shirley Spaulding. "The Litchfield Manufacturing Company, makers of
japanned papier mache." Antiques, August 1960, 150-153.
Palmer, Brooks in “The Litchfield Manufacturing Company,” American Antiques
Briefly—but spectacularly—during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a peculiar set of clocks excited the interest of the American public. These were monumental clocks—towering agglomerations of clockwork, decorative flourishes, animated panels, and mechanical music. Between roughly 1875 and 1900, more than two dozen such giants appeared and toured throughout the United States and Europe.
These huge clocks were built to compete with the cathedral clock of the French city of Strasbourg. Completed in 1352, it had long been Europe's most famous clock. As the United States became a leading industrial power in the nineteenth century, American clockmakers strove to build monumental clocks greater than Strasbourg's.
Although the American clocks differed in details, they shared several features—elaborate ornaments, astronomical indicators, and celebrated scenes and figures from the American past. With one exception, each was a labor of many years by a lone craftsman, usually a jeweler by profession and a recent immigrant. Each clock was covered with a riot of colorful folk decorations combining Christian and patriotic items, some mechanically animated. Almost every clock had a professional manager, distinct from the maker, who promoted the clock as the mechanical wonder of the age. The Great Historical Clock of America epitomizes these clocks.
Regrettably, little is known of its history or its maker. Since Benjamin Harrison is the last president to march by in the procession of figures we assume it was completed about 1893. Handbills found in the clock's packing crates indicate that it toured with Bent and Bachelder's Anglo American Christy's Minstrels as far as Australia and New Zealand. The clock spent most of the twentieth century in a New Hampshire barn, where the owners charged twenty-five cents for a peek at it.